If you’re struggling to overcome anxiety or a phobia, you’ll want to schedule a session at this time. Real Simple health writer Amanda MacMillan covered the research of SMU clinical psychologist Alicia Meuret in the latest issue of the magazine and web site. The article, "This Is the Best Time of Day to See Your [...]

Patients make more progress toward overcoming anxiety, fears and phobias when their therapy sessions are scheduled in the morning, new research suggests.
An SMU study found that morning sessions helped psychotherapy patients overcome their panic and anxiety and phobic avoidance better, in part, because levels of cortisol — a naturally occurring hormone — are at their highest then, said clinical psychologist Alicia E. Meuret.

Two SMU psychology professors working with University of Maryland engineers have been awarded a National Institutes of Health grant that will bring nearly $2 million to their joint project to create a wearable device for pediatric asthma patients that helps them avoid asthma triggers.
The asthma device will monitor air quality, carbon dioxide levels in the blood, physical activity and other stimuli to identify triggers and alert a patient when conditions are ripe for an attack.

Asthma patients taught to habitually resist the urge to take deep breaths when experiencing symptoms were rewarded with fewer symptoms and healthier lung function, according to a new study from the Department of Psycholgoy at Southern Methodist University.
The findings are from a large clinical trial funded with a grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

KERA public radio 90.1 hosted SMU psychologist Alicia Meuret on Krys Boyd's "Think" program Oct. 6.
Meuret, Boyd and Madhukar Trivedi, chair of the University of Texas-Southwestern's Mental Health Department, discussed "How fear serves us and when it can lead us astray," particularly in the wake of the much-discussed Ebola case in Dallas.

Health journalist Corrie Pikul wrote about the groundbreaking panic and anxiety research of SMU psychologists Dr. Alicia Meuret and Dr. Thomas Ritz in a Jan. 7 post on Oprah.com.
The article, "Stress Myths—Debunked!," cites the startling findings of Meuret's anxiety research, which has found that the standard advice to "take a deep breath" actually makes such situations worse.